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Memoir
Joan S. Stark
Regent's Proceedings 325
Regent's Proceedings 325
Joan S. Stark, Ed.D., professor of education and former dean, School of Education, will retire from active faculty status on May 31, 2001, after 23 years of service to the University of Michigan.
Professor Stark received her B.S. degree from Syracuse University in 1957, her M.A. degree from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1960, and her Ed.D. degree from the State University of New York at Albany in 1971. Following employment as a high school teacher, college instructor, and administrator at Goucher College (1970-74) and Syracuse University (1974-78), Professor Stark joined the University of Michigan School of Education in 1978 as dean and professor. She served as dean until 1983.
A leading authority on post secondary curriculum and teaching, Professor Stark directed the federally funded National Center for Research to Improve Post Secondary Teaching and Learning from 1986-91. She has done extensive research and published widely on issues related to college curriculum, curriculum leadership, and teaching and learning in higher education. Her research is cited frequently and is used as a conceptual framework for dissertations and improvement practice throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia. She was editor of the Review of Higher Education from 1991-96. She has served as curriculum consultant to educational programs in many professional fields such as nursing, accounting, medicine, and journalism.
Professor Stark has received a number of national awards, including the Exemplary Research Award from the American Educational Research Association; the Research Achievement Award, Distinguished Service Award, and most recently, the Howard Bowen Distinguished Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education; and the Suslow Career Research Award and Distinguished Membership Award from the Association for Institutional Research. Her teaching has consistently received praise from students and her mentorship is highly valued by the graduate students with whom she works.
The Regents now salute this faculty member by naming Joan S. Stark professor emerita of education and dean emerita.